01
music
Max Cooper - Swapped
Youtube
Max Cooper: There is a particular phase of my live audio-visual show where the narrative descends into the scourge of humanity on the planet, and where some techno is called for. For this chapter I was interested in capturing some of the intensity of living amongst urban development and the beauty that goes along with the incessant change and barrage of ideas from all sides. Dimitri originally made an abstracted version of this system as part of one of our creative challenges on the mesh discord, and we chatted about how to develop it to show the human story - rampant destruction, homes, cultures and ideas rapidly repurposed or wiped out to make way for the next thing, on repeat. I tried to be as direct as possible musically, and didn't add too much complexity, with just one techno scripture blaspheme, swapping the kicks and snares position so that it has the effect of dropping early as a little touch of spice on what is otherwise a straightforward club bang with a subtle addition of a binaural trip to the dentist - recordings of drilling and suction inside the mouth to complement the synth style. Dimitri Thouzery: Cities, the vibrant living places of the majority of humanity, are in a constant state of transformation. In the era of liberalization, gentrification, expansionist urbanism, and the dream of smart cities, urban landscapes are evolving rapidly. The video aims to capture the dynamic nature of these changes using a generative and audio-reactive system. Created in TouchDesigner, the system utilizes moving cubes and a differential feedback system to depict the patterns of the city. Different sounds from the tracks trigger variations in the feedback loop, creating diverse patterns. Additionally, a generative grid of buildings expands as the track progress, accompanied by animated individuals moving within the city. Designing such a generative system poses the challenge of unpredictable outcomes at each iteration. While there are ways to control noise parameters for some stability, allowing the system to be somewhat out of control adds a sense of organic evolution to the city. With infinite possibilities, even though a choice has to be made for a music clip, I like to think of it as just one of the many potential outcomes.